The atrocities Barnes describes – and I’m referring to the everyday prejudice and downright racism of late 19th Century Middle England, not the sadistic ‘ripping’ of horses and cattle – take on a harder edge because they are based on events that really happened and, I assume, on existing transcripts of real police interviews. So, to all intents and purposes, it’s a novel, right?
And so far, plenty of things have happened, and people have had plenty of private thoughts, that no amount of research could have uncovered. As soon as we open the book, of course, we start to wonder how true any of it really is: Barnes has created two main characters, and a whole cast of minor ones, who behave in ways that are just as literary as anything to be found in fiction. Julian Barnes is a novelist who also likes true stories – so for him to uncover a curiosity like this is a gift. First third – up to George’s committal for trial
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